Tag Archives: creative

Night Shooting with Illuminate Workshops

Earlier this month my wife and I took some time to go one a monthly photowalk that Efrain from Illuminate Workshops organizes every month free of charge.    This photowalk was down at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.

Despite the fact that I shoot professionally as a Denver wedding photographer, I still think it’s important to find time to shoot for fun and for creative exploration.   Besides often the things I learn shooting for myself are things that I can translate and use for clients in their wedding coverage.

Now while I’ve been to Garden of the Gods many times, it has been a few years, and I’ve never been there at night.   We did cut our stay short, something about 20 photographers with tripods and Porthos on a leash was a logistical error that I hadn’t ponder until I thought about how much damage he could do the first time a chipmunk caused him to make a full speed burst and the damage that would do to the good working relationship I have with my insurance agent.

Still we managed to grab a few fun shots.

Garden of the Gods

[caption id="attachment_1296" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Moonrise over Garden of the Gods"]moonrise over Garden of the Gods[/caption]

And in case you’re thinking stuff like this isn’t doable without top of the line pro gear, this was shot on one of my old back up cameras, a canon Rebel, with a non-pro lens – and the most important tool, a tripod.

I hear rumors July’s night walk will be downtown and involve fireworks……….

Maggie and Jimmy – Blizzard Wedding

Colorado WeddingIn case you missed the news 1/3 of the moisture we’re received in Denver this year came down in the 24 hours leading up to Maggie and Jim’s wedding in a mixture of snow and rain.   But the weather didn’t stand a chance against these two families.  Despite everything the wedding went off without a hitch and if the weather added any stress to the family they never showed it.

I do want to take a moment and call out some vendor appreciation, lets face it if there was ever a day a wedding vendor had to wonder about their career choice it was yesterday while getting vehicles shoveled out in the morning.

For starters to the not one, but two great photographers I had working with me yesterday.

I’ve worked with Dain of Photography by Dain on many occasions and his professionalism and creativity always makes it a great day.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you’re looking for a wedding photographer and I’m not quite your style, give Dain a look.

While I’ve worked with Shannon of Shalynne Imaging countless times on various fashion projects it was out first chance to work together on a wedding.   With her eye and attentional to detail I doubt it will be the last time either.

Michael Lancaster of Bagpipers International came out for the music for the ceremony.  A combination of bagpipes and guitar music set the tone for the day.

Michael Lancaster of Bagpipers International

Tim from The Flower Shop at Castle Pines delivered the bridal bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages for the day and took extra care to make sure they arrived in perfect condition.

The Flower Shop at Castle Pines

The weather did limit the changing room use for a while in order to keep people from heading outside after getting ready.   So the same vanity mirror that the bride used for her makeup would be later used by the groom for his collar.

bride and groom

Of course at the end the day it was still a wedding like many others despite the weather.

Lovely ladies

A beautiful bride

close friends

a walk down the isle

walking down the isle

.. and a newly married couple.

kiss the bride

OK and somewhere along the way two photographers comparing the benefits of Nikon versus Canon portrait lenses.

At the bottom of this post is a preview slideshow.   Will have a more fleshed out one posted in a week or two, but wanted to get something up this weekend since it was such a great day.

Denver wedding couple

Denver wedding couple

Denver wedding couple

Sine Cera

Since it’s a slow time of year I was archiving some material and realized during part of this year I was very lax about blogging some of my creative work.   So I thought before things got too busy with 2009 I’d do some last minute 2008 catch-up posts. 

As a photographer I consider myself blessed to have a lot of friends that love getting creative in front of the camera.   Regardless of if it’s old or new friends their sense of creativity and art is wonderful to work with when the goal is simply to produce something that makes you go WOW.  These art sessions are vital for photographers, it gives us a chance to try new things and experiment without the same risk as trying something untested with a paying client.  

One of my friends is an amazing local model named Sara.   Besides being a wonderful model she has become just about family to me and my wife so she often finds herself tapped to be in front of my lens.

Last year Sara had a project that she wanted to work on that produced a few of my favorite images from 2009.  The first half, Sine Cera, is some simple but lovely shots both in studio and on location.  

Hope you enjoy, Sine Cera.   Later this week I’ll post the follow up, Through the Looking Glass. 

The next one is another version of this file, but using some shading and layer techniques I picked up from a conference by the Sallee’s.   

Anna – Portfolio Session

Anna is a local model who was referred to me by a mutual friend, JWalker. She came into the studio last weekend for some fresh material for her portfolio.

Typically for these type of shoots I’ll cut my normal portrait session price for some basic headshot work, or for a longer session I’ll to a TFshoot where I trade my normal session fee for their portfolio work in exchange for their modeling fee to work on some stock photography projects for me.

In between the snow we had just enough light coming through the window wall for some lovely available light pictures. And of course I couldn’t help but do a few creative post edits as well.

All in all not a bad way to start off the new year.



2008 – A year in review

Wow what a year.
Retired from the Dumb Friends League.
Moved from a 230sqft studio to an 1800sqft studio.
Poise and Shades Model Management
Fashion Shows
J-Chans Designs
My first chance to attend a Furry Scurry
Senior Photos
Wedding Fever
Stock and Getty
and the creative projects.

I fired a little over 30,000 frames this last year. Giving a simple top 10 would be hardly fitting.
So below is just a glimpse of this year. It may be a slow loader.

Associations & Links

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